Seyyed Mohammad Khatami in a meeting with a group of reformist youth said: “One should pay attention that the role of religion can be resembled to a two-sided sword and as long as it is use to fulfill people’s rights and to establish justice and is for the benefit of the people will be successful but as soon as religion is used as a mean to justify mistreatments and shortcomings it will be dangerous and unsuccessful.”

The former president stressed: “unfortunately there are some that see themselves as the benchmark for the right and wrong and therefore is anyone who disagrees to them is portrayed as conspirator; while we believe that the rule of law, values of the revolution, interests of the country and the people are the benchmarks.”

Regarding the recent arrests, Seyyed Mohammad Khatami emphasized: “We have believed from the very first day that no crime was committed and after one year given all the accusations made it should be clear that truly these accusations and the pressure put [on reformists] were all baseless and unwarranted.”

Seyyed Mohammad Khatami regarding the compromise of different political parties said: “compromise does not mean that one give up on what is being believed as right and hands be raised as a sign of retreat . Regardless of the principles that exist, there are some frameworks that one should consider wisely and realistically and far from imaginations.”

He added: “In the past year people showed that all their efforts were to avoid violence although they paid a heavy price, like when in a touching act one of the mothers of the [Green] Martyrs said that she would drop legal charges against those who killed her son if they release all the political prisoners. This shows the generosity and the dedication of the people and that they are willing to close their eyes on the past to build the future and freedom, but they want to be ensured of the future and fulfilling the rights and dignity of the people.”

Khatami reiterated: “Unfortunately we have reached a point that even the parliament cannot stop the lawlessness and criticize the administration and even if they decide on some issue under pressure and offense, the kinds like attacking the houses of senior religious figure and [legal] gatherings, are being forced to retreat and this is a catastrophe that the parliament which should be on top of all affairs is also being molested.”

He continued: “I say that they are many who are oppressed and their voice is not reaching anywhere. Regardless of all those who have been imprisoned and the unjustified convictions, the houses of senior religious figures have been attacked and they said anything they wanted in a biased national media without giving the chance to the oppressed to defend themselves and those who attacked the houses of senior religious figure and insulted other figures in no way were dealt with from judiciary.”

Khatami added: “Unfortunately everything has become under control of military, security and intelligence [officials] and this is not good that if someone files a petition to the judiciary and asks for justice feels like his/her right was not honored while those who committed these crimes and violate people’s rights have full immunity.”

He noted: “Recently it was mentioned that there is only one party and all the other parties and organizations are illegitimate and irrelevant! This is really odd! During Shah’s era, he also said that there was only one party and if anyone did not want to be in that party should have left the country. Today many of the people, academia, students, scholars, journalist and recourses of the country are leaving the country. Why no one stops these disasters?”

Seyyed Mohammad Khatami regarding justice said: “Justice in economy is important and should be implemented in all levels. We claim that we have a religious state but are even the minimums being honored in this system? Of course everything cannot be perfect and there is no perfect human and we all have imperfections and shortcomings, but there are some who think that they are superior and see themselves as the benchmark for the right and this is the diversion from the religious principles.”

He added: “The failures, oppressions, baseless imprisonments and injustices will only cause us to lose our massive material and intellectual recourses and become isolated in the world. Just compare the today Iran and Iranians with years ago; people used to say that they were respected when they traveled and were honored that they were Iranians but today unlike the false claims, how is out situation in the world? Is this that model we wanted to build for the world?!”

The former president emphasized: “In the past year we witnessed that after the election people came to the scene with conscious and loyalty to the principles. The Green Movement belongs to the people and came to life from the heart of the society and it is not such that few individuals created it and are managing it and can make decisions for it. This movement is against violence and is a sign of the maturity of the people who want to reinstate the values of the revolution, the principles of democracy compatible with religion, their undeniable rights as well as the credibility and prosperity of the country; so that both the republican and Islamism parts of the system can be preserved; and even though the protest movement of the people is comprised of individuals and groups with various views and intensions but the primary demand of the people has been and still is for the people to be accounted and their votes be honored and also to have free and fair elections.”

Brave Women Of Iran

A special note we would like to share with the brave and beautiful women of Iran; You have shown extraordinary courage, passion, pride, humility and humanity in the face of great injustice. The world has taken notice and we are all humbled by your strength and determination. If you are the future, then we all are comforted by how bright it will shine.